Rennes 1 - 0 maquina (393655245)

Clear skies welcomed the 2403 spectators who had made their way to Stade de la route de Lorient. Peter Lyhkvist was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Grégoire Zinniker and Mostafa Mofti. Rennes started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Närhi - Bourdeau, Marino, Provost - Beuret, Pongratz, Lecluyse, Halcón, Salle - Swärdlius, Levavasseur.

A 5-4-1 alignment was the formation of choice for maquina. The following players took the field: Pareja - Fuentes, Marti, Ortega, Contador, Gepp - Leutwyler, Aranda, Holte, Trung Tôn - Darchinger.

The wings were the focus of most of Rennes's attacks today. maquina's H. Leutwyler was shown a yellow card after 8 minutes for slicing down an opponent. With 9 minutes played, J. Bourdeau of Rennes fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave K. Lecluyse from Rennes a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 28 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! In a fantastic display of determination, maquina's H. Aranda forced himself to his feet, after an opponent viciously knocked him down. J. Ortega of maquina was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. Rennes's K. Lecluyse tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but couldn't get past the visitors' defenders. Halftime score was 0 - 0. Rennes enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 57 percent of possession.

46 minutes into the match, the referee signalled for a maquina substitution. O. Argomedo came on for A. Darchinger. 46 minutes into the game, maquina wanted to bring some new energy to their game. H. Leutwyler gave J. Nuño a quick hug as he left the field. As the 46 minute mark approached, the maquina coach decided it was time for a substitution. A. Fuentes reluctantly made way for T. Niittyaro on the pitch. Rennes's F. Pongratz lived up to his reputation for finding unexpected ways to get the ball in the net when he sent a nifty little pass over to B. Beuret who finished for 1 - 0 with 52 minutes of the match played. A. Marino neatly controlled the ball after a short corner, and knocked it on to S. Swärdlius who had the whole net open before him, but only managed to hit the post. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, P. Gepp got himself booked. The manager of maquina was not happy. Rennes's J. Bourdeau had to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines, after twisting his ankle with 83 minutes having been played. M. Sauret was the replacement. Possession in this half belonged to Rennes, who controlled the ball 59 percent of the time.

Most important Rennes player was J. Halcón. On the other hand, J. Närhi's play was disheartening. maquina's top performer was clearly O. Argomedo. J. Nuño was a disappointment, however. The match ends 1 - 0.